News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts

November 6, 2016November 6, 2016

2016 Caracol Awards in Cuba

Several Cuban media outlets including ICAIC’s Cubacine, Casa de las Américas’ La Ventana, and Radio Cadena Agramonte recently announced the winners of the 2016 Caracol Awards held by UNEAC [National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists / Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba]. The three films to win the Grand Prize for Film were Pavel Giroud’s El acompañante; the documentary film Diálogo con mi abuela, by Gloria Rolando; and the animated film El viaje, by Luis Arturo Aguiar. The 2016 Caracol Awards also hosted three days of theoretical sessions at the UNEAC headquarters, with a program focusing on the representation of identity in media. Here are excerpts from Radio Cadena Agramonte:

The second season of police series UNO, co-directed by Roly Peña and Miguel Sosa, won the Grand Prize for Television, among the fiction audiovisual works presented to the 2016 Caracol Contest, organized by the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). Produced by RTV Comercial in collaboration with MININT [the Ministry of the Interior], the series, which has been favored by the public and critics since its release, will have a third season, Peña announced.

In this same medium (Television) the winner for the top prize in the documentary genre was Hector Ochoa’s La verdad de la historia [The truth of history], which presents the epic victory of the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.

The Grand Pize for Radio was awarded to the Radio Progreso drama Perdóname, conciencia [Forgive me, conscience] by Enrique Írsula Acebo, and the Habana Radio variety program Desde este mundo [From this world] by José de la Luz Armas.

The film El acompañante, by Pavel Giroud; the documentary film Diálogo con mi abuela, by Gloria Rolando; and the animated film El viaje, by Luis Arturo Aguiar won the Grand Prize for Film.

[. . .] Prior to the award ceremony, 2016 Caracol hosted three days of theoretical debates at the headquarters of the UNEAC, in a program centered on the representation of identity in media.